Still playing catch up, but those are a few things that you might have missed over the last few days. I have an Inside the Numbers piece in the works with regards to a USMNTer likely to make his XXth (don’t want to give it away) cap at a young age against Mexico.

Oh Klinsi, nonchalantly dropping that the US will be playing Mexico in Azteca this August after today’s USMNT v U-23 scrimmage down in Carson, California late on a Friday night. I know some people will say that this game serves no purpose, especially with the US about to start World Cup qualification and will get their shot at Azteca soon, but you could give me this game every year and I still will be giddy about it.

Speaking of that scrimmage, the USMNT won 4-0, scoring all goals in the first half. The goal scorers were Chris Wondolowski (x2), Teal Bunbury and Graham Zusi (although some people were tweeting that the second Wondo goal was by Benny Feilhaber). I guess the U-23s showed some good possession, but they had a 20-minute defensive lapse when all the goals came against them. I am hoping US Soccer will put up some highlights over the weekend. They will play one more time next week before the USMNT heads back to Phoenix.

I just finished watching a guy named Jimmer score 52 points. Cool story. Anyways, here are a few more links to end the week.

Leeds United manager Simon Grayson wants to extend Eric Lichaj’s loan deal for the rest of the season. If he can’t convince Aston Villa to keep him, Lichaj will return to Villa Park after this weekend’s game. It is probably in Lichaj’s best interest to stay at Leeds as I don’t see him playing much the rest of the season if he returns to Aston Villa.

Bolton Wanderers’ website talked to Stuart Holden about Saturday’s FA Cup quarterfinal match against Birmingham City. Bolton and Birmingham City will be meeting up in the FA Cup for the first time since 1955 (Birmingham City won 2-1 in the fourth round).

Argentina released their roster for their two friendlies later this month, including their match against the USMNT. While US fans will get to see players like Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano, we will not get to see talents like Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero. Boo.

I am guessing the US will release their roster some time next week (total guess on my part). In somewhat related news, Howie is working on a “guess the Gold Cup roster” piece and that should be up in the near future.

The guys at Yanks Abroad brought us a trio of stories on Friday. Arch Bell talked to Steve Clark after he was named the starting goalkeeper for Honefoss’ season opener. Brian Sciaretta caught up with Ipswich Town’s U-18 goalkeeper Cody Cropper to talk about his current season and the upcoming U-20 World Cup qualifying tournament. And Mr. Sciaretta talked to Adrian Ruelas about his recent promotion to Santos Laguna’s senior team.

The US U-17 team kicked off the 2011 CONCACAF U-17 Championship with a 3-1 victory over Cuba in their opening group match earlier today. They next play Panama on Friday to finish off their three-team group play.

US Soccer also has a Q&A up on their site with Jonathan Bornstein. You can see that right here.

Steven Goff has all the goods on his blog about the various salaries among those in US Soccer for last year (technically March 31, 2009 through April 1, 2010). Bob Bradley pulled in $818,244 ($600,000 base salary) after some incentives. I am sure there are some people out there that think that is $818,243 too much.

Brent Latham caught up with Thomas Rongen a few days after the CONCACAF U-20 World Cup Qualifying tournament draw to talk about the team. Two major points to take away from it: 1) He thinks this is the deepest team ever. 2) Fabian Hurzeler might not be on the team in Guatemala due to school conflicts.

Neil W. Blackmon takes a look at the tough choice ahead (selecting between the US and Honduras) of Andy Najar over at The Yanks Are Coming.

It appears that Northampton Town striker/defender Seb Harris is doing his second loan stint of the season. The 23-year-old spent some time with English Conference North side Stafford Rangers and now he is with English Conference North club Nuneaton Town. He got the start and went the full 90 minutes this past weekend in Nuneaton Town’s 1-0 loss to Droylsden.

Brian Sciaretta keeps us updated on the play of Adrian Ruelas since returning to Santos after training with Celtic this past fall. Ruelas has scored an amazing six goals through four games with Santos’ U-20 team.

And finally, another American could headed to Sweden. Seton Hall product Samuel Petrone has been offered a contract for the 2011 season with Mjallby after impressing on a week-long trial.

Medio Tiempo is reporting that Celtic declined their option to pick up Santos Laguna striker Adrian Ruelas. Ruelas made the trek from Mexico to Scotland back in September and has been training with the Scottish Premier League squad ever since, but his stay over in Europe has come to an end.

Staying with the US U-20 theme, the US U-20 team played a match against college and other local players from the South Florida area during their current training camp. According to this report over at Soccer by Ives, the match ended in a 0-0 draw with the US squad having some issues with their finishing.

The guys over at Yanks Abroad got to speak to US U-20 newcomer Fabian Hurzeler during the camp at Ft. Lauderdale this week. He says one of the biggest reasons for his switch to the US was Thomas Rongen.

“He’s Dutch and he knows how to play soccer,” Hurzeler said of his new coach. “I like his attitude with soccer. It’s a bit like Europe.”

Switching gears to Europe. Some good news for Chris Rolfe and Aalborg as the team’s website indicates that Rolfe, who has missed basically the last year due to injury, should be good to go once the Danish Superliga resumes in March.

Yanks Abroad has a lengthy, but quite interesting story on Troy Ready. The former Portland Timber is now playing professionally in Tajikistan, while also doing a lot off the field to help spread the game.

* Benny Feilhaber could be signing with Mexican side Cruz Azul this week.
* Celtic should be signing Adrian Ruelas during the transfer window after he spent this past fall training with the club.
* Former Standard Liege manager Michel Preud’homme is now at FC Twente and is interested in his former player Oguchi Onyewu.
* While Edson Buddle is training/trialing/working out/playing soccer at Birmingham City, Sheffield United have possibly entered the picture.

Things are starting to heat up with the transfer window opening up next weekend.

Brian Sciaretta over at Yanks Abroad talks to Adrian Reulas about his time in Scotland so far. While there has been some confusion on his deal with Celtic, it looks like he is going to train with the first team until January then Celtic/Santos Laguna will decide his future (transfer? loan deal? head back to Mexico?).

While he talks about adapting to the increased level of speed and play in Scotland, he also shoots down some rumors about him switching to Mexico over the US.

“I am not expecting them to call me,” he continued. “All this has been going on but I have felt really comfortable with the US. They treat me really well and my head is just on making the team for Colombia. I think I’ve done well and [Coach Rongen] likes me. I am really looking forward to the upcoming camps.”

While Ruelas said that he is not expecting to hear from Mexico, he also said that he would not change even if they did contact him.

“You’d have to think about it but yes, I would say that I will stick with US,” Ruelas added. “The last three camps have been really positive. I’ve really liked it and I would have to say I will stay with the US.”

It looks like Ruelas will re-join the US U-20 team at an upcoming camp in December.

As for a former US U-20 player, Jared Jeffrey is currently hurt with a hip injury. Jeffrey has trained a lot with Mainz’s first team, but has appeared in five games for the reserve team, Mainz II, in the fourth tier of the German soccer system (Regionalliga). He played in 14 games last season for Mainz II, scoring one goal.

Jeffrey last played on October 1 in a 3-2 loss to Borussia Dortmund II, but is expected to return to training in the near future.

And a 2-for-1 in this article. It is a game recap from a recent reserve match between Derby County and Sheffield Wednesday where American Conor Doyle scored for Derby. While reading through it, I also noticed that Euan Holden is now on trial at Derby County.

Defender Mitch Hanson, on the way back from a serious knee injury, came in for triallist Euan Holden, while winger David Martin was replaced by second year Academy scholar Aaron Cole.

Ruelas, 19, will train with Celtic until the winter transfer window opens and then will formally join the club if a work permit can be secured.

“Adrian traveled to Scotland yesterday and will be there until December as part of an induction into the team,” Santos communications director Luis Roberto Fernández Espinosa told YA today. “In December he will be registered as the new addition to Celtic.”

The guys over at Yanks Abroad recently talked to Jeremiah White since he made his move to Poland. Sounds like he is excited to be back in Europe.

Former US U-17 and U-20 player, Jamel Johnson (not to be confused with MK Dons’ Jemal Johnson), signed with FC Fyn of the Danish 1st Division this week. He spent time on trial with Viborg FF and Randers FC before landing with FC Fyn.

And after a couple rumors last week, US Soccer finally announced that the US will be playing South Africa in the Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup on November 17 in Cape Town. This will be the US’ fourth trip to South Africa in the last few years (2007 Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup, 2009 Confederations Cup & 2010 World Cup). It should be interesting to see what kind of roster Bob Bradley will select for this game with it so far away for both European and MLS players.